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t is ironic that the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations coincides with a growing debate in international forums about its efficacy in the achievement of its main purposes. The UN came into existence on October 24, 1945, upon the ratification of its charter by all the permanent members of the Security Council and a majority of the remaining 46 states that had signed the UN charter. Its main purposes were to maintain international peace and security; promote international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian cooperation; and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without any distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.
The performance of the UN since its establishment shows mixed results in the achievement of its main purposes. Undoubtedly, it has achieved some progress in the promotion of international cooperation in economic, social, cultural and humanitarian fields as well as in encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms through its various organs and subsidiary bodies. But its overall record even in these fields remains patchy, leaving a lot to be desired.
But its biggest failure has been in the field of international peace and security, which has been marked by recurrent conflicts between nations, blatant violations of the purposes and principles of the UN charter and the ineffectiveness of the Security Council in enforcing the authority of the UN because of rivalries and divisions among its permanent members.
Unfortunately, in many cases the permanent members of the UN Security Council have themselves been responsible for defying its authority. The Suez Canal crisis and the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 were early examples of the disregard of the UN charter by permanent members of the UNSC. The Soviet attack on Afghanistan in December 1979 blatantly violated the provisions of the UN charter. The same was true about the US attack on Iraq in 2003. Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022 was another example of the primacy of power politics over international law. Israeli and US air attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June this year reflected contemptuous disregard of the provisions of the UN charter. The same was true about Israeli genocidal campaign in Gaza in defiance of the UN resolutions and international appeals.
Several factors are responsible for the growing international anarchy. The ineffectiveness of the UNSC to enforce the provisions of the UN charter because of rivalries among the permanent members has emboldened powerful states to take law into their own hands and ride roughshod over weaker states to safeguard their perceived security interests. The weaker states have been on the receiving end in this unfair process.
Further, as elaborated by several scholars, the international system tends, by its inherent nature, to be anarchic in the absence of an effective international body to regulate the exercise of power and prevent powerful states from exploiting the weakness of less powerful states for the advancement of their narrow national interests. The weakness of the UN, therefore, has encouraged realpolitik in international relations relegating international morality, law and the UN charter to a secondary position as states deal with strategic issues of war and peace. Powerful states, therefore, have an incentive to accumulate more power in the face of challenges from their competitors and use it irrespective of legal or moral limitations. This is a sure recipe for anarchy in international system.
The growing rivalry between a rapidly rising China and the US, the current global hegemon, has provided grist for the mill of growing anarchy in the international system. In the face of the challenge posed by China, the US has the choice of either accommodating the legitimate demands of China’s rise peacefully or resisting them to protect its existing hegemony. The indications are that the US has chosen the latter course. In such an eventuality, the world will witness increasing tensions and disputes between the two countries which may feed regional conflicts, especially those in the Indo-Pacific region.
The emergence of other major regional powers like Brazil, Japan, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, Turkey and Saudi Arabia and the resultant trend towards multipolarity are likely to reinforce international anarchy as these states jostle for power and influence in various regions and the Global South. The changes in balance of power due to new developments in economic, scientific, technological and military fields, combined with the primacy of power politics, will inevitably result in an unpredictable international environment and shifting alliances.
The emerging anarchic, volatile and extremely competitive global security environment will be marked by the growing diminution of the authority of the UN on strategic issues of war and peace as decisions on these will be determined primarily by realpolitik rather than international law or morality.
However, the UN will continue to play an important role in reflecting the world opinion on important issues through debate and exchange of views, providing legitimacy to decisions taken elsewhere on issues of international peace and security and assisting in peacekeeping besides promoting international cooperation in economic, social, cultural and humanitarian fields and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. This alone is more than sufficient to justify the continued existence and further strengthening of the UN.
It is this world in disorder with an unpredictable and inhospitable international environment, in which Pakistan has to operate to safeguard its security and attain the goal of economic prosperity. While it must strengthen alliances with powerful friends and utilise the UN system for safeguarding its national interests, in the ultimate analysis, its security and economic well-being will be dependent on its own power. It must, therefore, put its house in order and assign the highest priority to the goal of rapid economic and technological development while maintaining a credible security deterrent.
The writer served as Pakistan’s ambassador to Iran from 1997 to 2003. He is the author of Pakistan and a World in Disorder—A Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century. He can be reached at javid.husaingmail.com.